It is now common to find digital camera assemblies incorporated into many types of hand-portable electronic devices other than digital cameras. Such hand-portable electronic devices may encompass, for example, user-portable radio telephones (commonly known as mobile or cellular telephones), personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable video gaming devices, portable digital audio/video playback/recording devices or other devices incorporating one or more of the features of the aforementioned. Such hand-portable electronic devices tend to incorporate digital camera assemblies of increasing quality and functionality as various manufacturers compete with each other to provide improved facilities while maintaining portability of the device.
With increasing quality of camera assemblies comes an increased need for protection of the imaging window of the digital camera assembly. Typically, as the quality of the camera assembly increases, for example increasing with the number of pixels an imaging chip in the assembly is able to image, the requirement for larger and higher quality lenses increases. Larger lenses let more light into the camera assembly, and can thereby improve the image quality. To maintain the quality of the images, however, some kind of lens cover is preferred, in order to protect the camera assembly from scratches and other marks which can be an inevitable result of the typical use pattern of a hand portable electronic device such as a mobile telephone.
Additionally, when camera assemblies are incorporated into hand-portable electronic devices, there is now a preference for the camera assembly to be adjustable such that images can be taken of either the user or of a scene in front of the user while the user views the image via a screen on the device. An adjustable camera assembly may typically be within a rotatable body part of the hand-portable electronic device. An imaging axis of the camera assembly may thereby be rotated towards or away from the user as desired.
It is to be understood that the term “imaging axis” used herein is intended primarily to be defined as being an imaginary axis drawn through an axis of rotational symmetry of a lens within the camera assembly. An imaging axis of a camera assembly will thereby typically be in line with the approximate centre of the field of view of the camera assembly. The imaging axis may alternatively be defined as being an imaginary line drawn from the centre of the imaging window of the camera assembly to the centre of the field of view being imaged by the camera assembly.
One particular type of rotatable camera assembly found in a mobile telephone is described in WO 2005/083990, in which a hand-portable electronic device is disclosed having first and second body parts being rotatable relative to each other by means of a swivel hinge. The second body part comprises a digital camera input device, while the first body part comprises a screen for viewing images captured by the camera. Rotation of the second body part relative to the first body part allows the camera to be oriented in various directions relative to the screen.
A possible problem with such prior art hand-portable electronic devices incorporating a rotatable camera assembly is that inadvertent rotation of the camera assembly may occur when being carried, for example in a pocket or a handbag. Also, the imaging window or lens of the camera assembly may, when subjected to rough handling in transmit, be scratched or soiled, thus degrading the quality of the images captured by the camera assembly.
Slidable lens covers are known and possible in hand-portable electronic devices. Locking mechanisms for the prevention of inadvertent rotation of rotatable camera assemblies are also known. However, there is a general need to simplify the use and manufacture of such devices, using as few mechanical components as possible, so as to reduce the overall manufacturing cost. Combining more than one feature in a mechanical component of a hand-portable electronic device would go some way to fulfilling this need.